FINALLY!!

Y'all. I have missed this blog & all of you (are there any of you left?? ;)) SO MUCH!

We have been without internet in our home since moving in in March, but I'm happy to say that the internet gods finally got their act together & spread lines in our neighborhood which means I CAN FINALLY BLOG AGAIN! Woohoo!! It's been a long 7 months!

There's no way I could ever make up everything that I've missed, so I'll hit the high points and go from there...

On April 18th we got a HUGE surprise and found out that our family would be growing!

 You may remember that we had trouble conceiving the first time around, and I think I'm still in a little shock that this "just happened" on its own. God is so good, and I think He knew that I wasn't quite sure when the "right" time would be, so He just went ahead and let me know that it was time!

 We found out this summer that baby #2 was a BOY!! And a healthy one at that :)

 I'm 35 weeks as of today, and our little man is expected to arrive around December 15th. Hopefully I can share more on this pregnancy really soon! I hate that I don't have the same documentation this time around, but I'm sure that baby boy will forgive his dear ol' mom.

Jaqs was a flower girl for the first time in a friend's wedding in June, and oh was it precious! She sprinted down the aisle then danced the night away. She had a BALL! And she'll get to do it again in February for her Uncle Will's wedding, so let's hope history repeats itself with her flower girl duties.

We had an awesome summer spent with old friends...

 And new friends...

 Then another football season began...

 It's been a bit of a roller coaster, but our Coogs got a share of the district title & will play their first round of play-offs this Friday!! GO COUGARS!!

 Jaqs also started Mother's Day Out twice a week this fall, and she is LOVING IT! I was unsure of how long it'd take her to adjust and enjoy it, but she jumped right in (without a tear) and has made me so proud. My sweet big girl. I need to do an update of my TWO & A HALF year old before she becomes a big sister!

I think that's about all I can muster for my first post-hiatus-post ;) I hope to be back SOON!

midweek ramblings

 Hey y'all! I hope you're having a great week so far. All's well over here except for the fact that the weather can't make up its mind...shocker! Last week we were enjoying perfect, sunny weather, and today we're cooped up inside with temps in the 30s and rain...BOO. I guess that just how it goes this time of year, isn't it? I definitely have some Spring Fever though!

I wanted to pop in and share some randomness with y'all. Basically the state of my mind as of late!

TL: Jaqs has been hauling "meow" with her everywhere lately! She had him in the car the other day, and I overheard her saying, "I lahve yew, meow!" Sweetness.

TR: My world has been rocked! Red Robin officially has gluten free buns. I haven't had a REAL burger since going GF in 2009, so this is revolutionary!! ;) It passed the test...I felt great after eating it. Well, except for normal cheeseburger fatiness, of course.

BL: Jaqs was hamming it up for some selfies...silly girl! Her smile is my favorite.

BR: As most of you know, we're at my parents' house right now while we're in between houses, and I think it's safe to say J is eating up. Girlfriend is going to be bored to tears when it's back to dear ol' mom & dad.

I bought this inexpensive, laminate dresser in college, and we didn't have room for it at our last house; it will serve as a TV console in our next home, so I wanted to give it a little makeover. I combed Pinterest in search of how to redo laminate furniture and decided chalk paint was the way to go. It's kind of intimidating if you've never used it, so I followed these tips and went for it!

I'll admit that I was super unsure while I was painting, but once I distressed & waxed it, I loved it!! I used Amy Howard's chalk paint in French Blue and used the light wax on top. SUPER easy to use! I'm curious if any of you have worked with the homemade chalk paints that are all over Pinterest? The store-bought is pretty pricey at $30 a quart, but when you consider no sanding or priming? Worth it.

In other furniture news, we bought this bad boy over the weekend:

It's going to be finished in an antique white and is going to have a vintage feel. I'm trying to decide what I want to do with the pulls and knobs. What do y'all think??

I am kind of loving this look with the card catalog style pulls...

source

Help me!! There are 8 drawers that need pulls and 6 cabinets that will need knobs.

source

This really isn't that big of a deal, but SERIOUSLY! The Hobby Lobby hardware aisle is overwhelming ;)

Happy Wednesday!

22 months

I haven't done an update on Jaqs lately, so I thought I'd share a little of what she's up to (and in to!) lately so I'd have it to look back on. I love looking back and seeing how much my baby girl has grown and changed! Cannot believe how close we're getting to her SECOND birthday. What?!

-constantly talking up a storm & parroting everything

-we can understand much of what you say, but of course, we have to translate for others

-you prefer veggies to fruit but prefer carbs to anything else ;)

-total milk-aholic, side note: milk="noke" no idea why, but it's cute!
-you LOVE smoothies & think it's ice cream.

-insist we pray before each meal
-we're in the middle of a move & you've been asking for "home??" fairly often

-RUNNING everywhere

-mickey mouse rocks your world

-very particular about the placement and order of things
-HATE having your hair brushed & refuse anything but having it clipped back with a bow

-you make us put our drinks on coasters ;)

-you announce whoever walks in the door. ie: "daddy's home!" "mommy's here!"

-you give the very best hugs and kisses. we'll never get enough!

-suddenly love to be rocked (mostly for stalling purposes, i presume)

-sleeping 11-12 hour nights & taking a 2-3 hour nap

-extremely shy with people you're not around regularly
-love to "help" with everything from laundry to loading/unloading the dishwasher
-if you hear me doing something, you come running saying "baby help!"

-love reading & can be found doing so in your closet several times a day

-you know some shapes: heart, square, circle, star, moon (crescent)

-you also can identify all basic colors & quite a few letters of the alphabet

-you are quite the wild child & love to do anything dangerous

-love trucks, tractors & motorcycles
-coloring is your favorite

-you have excellent manners :) almost always say "thank you," "please," and "no thank you"

-finally started referring to yourself as Jaqs instead of "baby" most of the time

-obsessed with shoes & can be heard saying "I like your shoes!" to everyone

-totally addicted to the paci--it's only allowed at nap/bedtime

-love playing mommy to your baby dolls & stuffed animals
-started going to the church nursery regularly

-wearing mostly 2T stuff, but tops are starting to get short again

-size 7 shoes

-size 4 diapers

-25 pounds, almost 34 inches...long & lean as always!

toddler {girls} christmas wishes

Jaqs is going to have a merry Christmas indeed this year! She's at such a fun age, and I really think she's going to have so much fun playing with her new toys. It's easy to go overboard, but I certainly don't want to raise her to believe that this is what Christmas is all about. I wanted to share J's little list though in case some of you are looking for ideas for your littles!

click set for details

1. The Little Mermaid & Doll--We're collecting all the classic Disney movies, so of course The Little Mermaid had to join when it came out of the vault earlier this year! Target had a movie + doll deal a couple months ago, so J is lucky & getting both.

2. Melissa & Doug Wooden Sound Puzzle--My little lady loves wooden puzzles, and I know she'll go crazy for this vehicle one that even has sound when the correct piece is places! Yep, my girl looooves cars, trucks & choo-choos.

3. Jammies--You can never have too many sets of pj's, right?! Not when they're this cute!! I love this heart set at Old Navy, especially with Valentine's Day coming up next!

4. My 1st Trampoline--This is Jaqs' BIG gift this year, and she is going to LOVE this trampoline. I'm calling it now that we'll be living in the backyard after Christmas! :) Girlfriend LOVES to JUMP! This trampoline is perfect for toddlers as it's only a couple feet off the ground & is completely enclosed. The weight limit is 100 pounds, so it should last us awhile!

5. Just Like Mommy Set & Baby--J has a baby stroller at my parents' house, and she plays with it constantly, so we figured it's about time she has one at her own house, too! My mom and I found a Black Friday deal on this set, so that's the one she'll be getting from GG & Pop, but there are tons of options out there, and this seems to be one of those toys that boys and girls never get tired of.

this moment...

You know those moments where you sit, amazed and overwhelmed with love and gratitude for the blessings you've been given? Yeah. I've had many of those since becoming a mommy a little over 14 months ago, but they've really been hitting me hard lately as I watch Jaqs learn something new just about every day. I {obviously} know that she's not the first toddler to draw with sidewalk chalk or spout off new words that I didn't even know she knew or work intently to put on her shoes, but she is the first toddler I've watched do these things through the eyes of a mother. The unbiased eyes of a mother, of course ;)

I'm so thankful for this girl and all of her little quirks and unique traits, and I'm also thankful that God has been pointing them out to me even more so lately as if to say, "soak this up, it'll be gone sooner than you know." Because that's the thing about kids...they just keep changing, growing, evolving. I want to absorb every aspect of Jaqs' little being right now...in THIS moment and never forget it.

I never want to forget the way she gives us the biggest, cheesiest grins I could ever imagine, the way she says "bore" after anything we do she likes or thinks is funny, or the way she grunts and groans like an 80 year old man when doing things like climbing on the bed or putting a lid on something; the way she crams so much food in her mouth she can't even chew. I never want to forget that she puts the phone behind her head to "talk", the way she says "HI DAD!" every time he walks in the door, or the way she says "MMMM!!" every time she tries to feed me something of hers she doesn't want.

Every age has been my favorite so far, but this 14 month old is really rocking my world right now and might actually be my favorite ;) She's my pride, my joy, my constant sunshine. We delight in her like we never knew possible, and look forward to all the fun ahead!

Love you to the moon, Peas!

bridal showers & babies

 Do you know what today is? Monday, yes. BUT it's the last Monday of the school year for my hubby! Woohoo! Sweet summer days ahead in the Galusha house...ahhh, so excited for a few weeks of down-time with my trio before yet another crazy football season.

This weekend was another great one! We've never had a car-seat in Rob's truck before, but we finally bit the bullet and bought a convertible since she can be in it up to 65 lbs. (side note: is that crazy or what?! kids are in car-seats til like jr. high these days) I think Jaqs approved of her new ride! She likes being able to actually see out the back window in the truck :)

We ran some errands together as a family Saturday morning, then I headed south to Austin after lunch for my beautiful friend, Ketrin's, bridal shower! It was such a fun afternoon spent with some lovely ladies, and I was so happy I got to celebrate with the bride-to-be!

 Always great to see my life-long bestie, Anna, too! 

After the shower, I headed even further south to San Antonio to spend the night with my nephew, Kase! Well, and his parents, too ;) He is just the sweetest little bundle of baby love, and I enjoyed every minute of his sweet newborn cuddles! Can't wait to see him again!

Thanks for having me KB & Nicole!

 I was sad to leave him on Sunday, but that was the first night I had spent away from my pea, so I was super anxious to get my hands on her, too.

i could be a boy-mom, too, right? :)

I don't know how I'm going to be away from my girl for 5 days later this month...24 hours felt like an eternity! I know her and her daddy had the best time though! Swimming, CFA date, and playing non-stop...what's not to love?! It makes my stomach fuzzy when I think about the love between those two. The sweetest!

Happy June, friends!

....is this thing on?

Well, I'm hanging my head in shame over here. I can't believe nearly 2 weeks have gone by since I last blogged! I guess I've been in a bit of a blogging funk, but I need to get back in the swing of things! We've had some exciting things going on in our little world

We've been spending lots of time "swimming" in the backyard with our buddies..

 And driving around the neighborhood, stopping to chat with the sweet retirees, of course...

(they're the only ones around during the day ;))

 We've also been doing some front-porch sittin' at our friends' house...

 Oh, and we made a trip to San Antonio this past weekend because Jaqsy got her FIRST COUSIN!! I am thrilled to death for my brother & his wife with the addition of their precious baby boy. He is just a handsome little thing, and I can't wait to snuggle him.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time with him while we were there because it was a MONSOON! There was a crazy amount of rain. BUT we got to stay at the AFB where my brother works, and Jaqs thoroughly enjoyed all the attention she received from her grandparents and great-grandma! This was J's first hotel stay, and she did pretty well!

 We spent Memorial Day on the lake with our pals, and it was, as always, a good time! The little girl had so much fun in her floaty that she was sitting in it in the garage the next day. "Take me back!," she says. 

In other news, Spring ball is officially in the books for another year which means we are seeing a whole lot more of Rob! He has another week of school, then we're home free for a little while! Well, you know except for 7 on 7 practice, tournaments, and daily work-outs, but whatever ;) We're eating dinner together, and spending weekends together...doesn't get much better than that!

Well, I think that's the run down on the last couple of weeks. It WILL NOT be 2 more weeks until I post again. Pinky promise. I've missed y'all!

XOXO

a taste of summertime...

We got a taste of Summer this weekend, and it was nothing short of amazing! Ahh, I can't believe it's over already, but now I'm just that much more excited for a few easy weeks with my family & friends.

Rob came home with flowers Friday afternoon, so there was no way it could be bad, right? Surprise gestures to say 'I was thinking about you!' are so my love language.

We went to watch one of our favorite kiddos play some baseball Friday evening, and it turned out he had an entire fan club in the stands that night! Can you tell these guys work together?? ;) Blue shirts, gray shorts...all day, errrday.

Parker even got the game ball that night! His team spanked their opponent...atta baby!

We went to eat with everyone afterwords, then Cassi & I had to do some last minute prep for our garage sale the next morning. We've been talking about needing to do one for months, and we decided to just DO IT last week. We were feeling a little crazy doing it so last minute, but when it was all said and done, we were glad to have our garages cleaned out. Bonus that we made some bucks on all our junk with no advertisement!

We had lots of good junk, though ;) But her daughter was selling the best stuff at this sale. Homemade chocolate ice cream with mexican vanilla...oh my, heavenly!

Once we were done with our sale, we made a mad dash through the grocery store, went home to round up the troops and get ready, then we were off to the lake for the afternoon/evening. Jaqs LOOVED swimming in the lake despite the fact that it was cold!

 I think it's definitely safe to say we'll be spending a lot of time in this lake this year :)

I had a blast, as always, with my girlfriends! 

Jaqs had only had 1 nap that day, so she was a little cranky by the end, and don't even get me started on the ordeal that was the life jacket, BUT overall, she had lots of fun! Maybe by the end of the Summer she'll learn to catch a cat-nap on the go ;)

We came home Saturday night and CRASHED. I don't think any of us moved all night!

On Sunday we did our usual house/yard/grocery chores, and Jaqs got a pool for our backyard! Rob set it up during her afternoon nap, and when she spotted it out the back door after she woke up, there was no keeping her in! We just let her swim in her diaper, and she had an absolute blast! We sure have a water baby on our hands, and that makes me so happy because there's nothing I love more than floating in a pool ;) I can still do that right? Daddies do the playing while mommies do the sunning, riiight?!

We cooked out Sunday night and basically spent the whole evening outside...it was perfect. Now if only we would stay around 90 like we have been rather than getting temps up to 105+. Oy, the only downside to TX summers.

Hope your weekend was fun, too! This is our last week of Spring football with a 3-day weekend in sight, so I just don't see anything bad about that!